Comments on: Font Size Frustrationhttps://lorelle.wordpress.com/2006/12/21/font-size-frustration/
Helping you learn more and do more with WordPressTue, 03 Mar 2015 22:32:12 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.com/By: peter nelsonhttps://lorelle.wordpress.com/2006/12/21/font-size-frustration/#comment-525293
Tue, 21 Aug 2007 18:30:45 +0000http://lorelle.wordpress.com/2006/12/21/font-size-frustration/#comment-525293“if you use Firefox and press the CTRL+Plus or Minus keys, you can make the fonts larger or smaller based upon your particular needs. This makes the design compliant with web standards for accessibility, giving the viewer control over font size, not the designer.”

I’ll bet the average non-tech’y web-surfer doesn’t know that.

“FYI, if you are struggling to do that, you are violating the most basic web standard on the web. Accessibility trumps “looks” every time in the mind of a true web designer.”

I think this depends on who surfs blogs. I wish I had reliable data on this, but if 80% of web visitors were nontechnical visually OK web-surfers who could not be counted on to adjust their browsers and 10% were visually-impaired users who COULD adjust their browsers, common sense would suggest optimizing for the 80%. (I say this as someone who is somewhat visually-imapaired but capable of adjusting my browser)

I have a photo website (pnArt.com) that ASSUMES high-resolution and high bandwidth – I know I’m losing out on many visitors that way but I’m more concerned that my photos look the way I want them to.

]]>By: Lorelle VanFossenhttps://lorelle.wordpress.com/2006/12/21/font-size-frustration/#comment-524985
Tue, 21 Aug 2007 16:27:05 +0000http://lorelle.wordpress.com/2006/12/21/font-size-frustration/#comment-524985This isn’t an issue of web designers being “more careful”. It is a flaw in the nature of web browsers to not employ consistent compliance with web standards. The standards have been in place for years, but browser developers aren’t paying attention and making their own rules – see Microsoft for the true example of that statement.

Web designers pick a “margin of safety” and go with that. Designing for every browser is unnecessary and time consuming, and they change with each release (again, Microsoft).

We do the best we can to find an “average” and go with that in order to cover the most browsers the best way. There are no hard and fixed rules on this, since browsers keep breaking them.

And, truth be told, few bloggers ever mess with their Themes, especially their fonts. At the most, they want the background color changed or the sidebar on the right or left. They want gizmos added, but few bother with the fonts.

Besides, the issue of fonts is their flexibility. By choosing a base font and then using percentages on all fonts referencing that base font, you create a “relative font” which means if you use Firefox and press the CTRL+Plus or Minus keys, you can make the fonts larger or smaller based upon your particular needs. This makes the design compliant with web standards for accessibility, giving the viewer control over font size, not the designer. Fixed font sizes are bad manners.

FYI, if you are struggling to do that, you are violating the most basic web standard on the web. Accessibility trumps “looks” every time in the mind of a true web designer.

]]>By: peter nelsonhttps://lorelle.wordpress.com/2006/12/21/font-size-frustration/#comment-524899
Tue, 21 Aug 2007 15:37:02 +0000http://lorelle.wordpress.com/2006/12/21/font-size-frustration/#comment-524899“Most viewers do not compare your site between browsers. Only you will do that.
”

I’m not expecting visitors to compare browsers!!

But if I have a font size that looks good in my blog I want it to look good to all my visitors regardless of their browser. If I have it set so it’s comfortable and readable in Firefox I don’t want people using Internet Explorer to think I’m shouting at them because it looks so huge.

I’ve been comparing canned WP themes using a couple of PC’s and 4 browsers – 2 IE versions and 2 FF versions, all with their default settings. The majority of canned themes have about a 2:1 text size ratio among the 4 browsers, but a few themes are almost exactly the same among the browsers. I wish all theme writers were that careful. Anyway, by exhaustive searching I’ve found a few candidate themes that I can probably adopt with minimal tweaking of the CSS to use my colors and background images.

On the other hand, I have no idea how non-geeks ever blog; I mean, I can’t imagine my mother-in-law or sister ever editing CSS or PHP.

]]>By: Lorelle VanFossenhttps://lorelle.wordpress.com/2006/12/21/font-size-frustration/#comment-523158
Tue, 21 Aug 2007 00:55:15 +0000http://lorelle.wordpress.com/2006/12/21/font-size-frustration/#comment-523158Fonts, for most people, is the least important element in choosing a WordPress Theme, though I think they are wrong. No, there is no “systemic” way of searching for font-specific themes. The WordPress Theme Viewer will allow you to choose layouts and colors, but not by fonts.

The article on the WordPress Codex, the online manual for WordPress users, that would help you adjust the WordPress Theme of your choice is Playing With Fonts. Then you can stay with whatever Theme you like and only change the fonts.

Trying to work around browsers is a nightmare, so don’t try to “match”. Just get close and it will be fine. Most viewers do not compare your site between browsers. Only you will do that. :D

]]>By: plnelsonhttps://lorelle.wordpress.com/2006/12/21/font-size-frustration/#comment-523131
Tue, 21 Aug 2007 00:46:16 +0000http://lorelle.wordpress.com/2006/12/21/font-size-frustration/#comment-523131“I’ve found that browsers do not agree with font sizes across the board, but I get few complaints about my fonts. They are smaller in Firefox and larger in IE.”

I’m new to WP – is there any SYSTEMATIC way to find a theme that doesn’t have this problem or do most people get a collection of different browser rev’s and just randomly start trying themes until they find one?

]]>By: Lorelle VanFossenhttps://lorelle.wordpress.com/2006/12/21/font-size-frustration/#comment-522755
Mon, 20 Aug 2007 22:39:19 +0000http://lorelle.wordpress.com/2006/12/21/font-size-frustration/#comment-522755I don’t know about the specifics of individual Themes as there are more than 2000 to choose from.

Just change your base font options in your style.css of your Theme from whatever they are to 1 em and then make everything else like headings and titles and such a percentage of the base font. It’s very easy to do.

I’ve found that browsers do not agree with font sizes across the board, but I get few complaints about my fonts. They are smaller in Firefox and larger in IE.

]]>By: plnelsonhttps://lorelle.wordpress.com/2006/12/21/font-size-frustration/#comment-522516
Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:41:47 +0000http://lorelle.wordpress.com/2006/12/21/font-size-frustration/#comment-522516I’m trying to use the basic canned themes without having to hack the code very much (I hang up my propellor-beanie when I come home from my sw engineering day-job)

The problem I’m having is that different browsers seem to have radically different ideas of what size to display fonts at, even using their default text size settings.

Someone, above, said that [ something ] “is the best you can do, without installing scripts that detect resolutions and resize fonts automatically.” So ARE there any canned themes that do that? If that’s what it takes has someone done it?

( I also blog about gardening and have many visitors “of a certain age” )

]]>By: Experimenting With A Makeover | iface thoughtshttps://lorelle.wordpress.com/2006/12/21/font-size-frustration/#comment-462308
Tue, 31 Jul 2007 18:34:43 +0000http://lorelle.wordpress.com/2006/12/21/font-size-frustration/#comment-462308[…] This was one of the motivators for me to start changing the site. 100% Easy to Read Standard make a good case and this is what pulled me over. I have also read similar opinions from others I respect. […]
]]>By: Lorelle VanFossenhttps://lorelle.wordpress.com/2006/12/21/font-size-frustration/#comment-116229
Fri, 22 Dec 2006 18:24:58 +0000http://lorelle.wordpress.com/2006/12/21/font-size-frustration/#comment-116229I’ve done extensive research over the years on fonts, and you can find some of those references and information in the articles listed above, and especially in CSS Experiments – Web Fonts and Embedded Fonts.
]]>By: Catanahttps://lorelle.wordpress.com/2006/12/21/font-size-frustration/#comment-115886
Fri, 22 Dec 2006 14:17:35 +0000http://lorelle.wordpress.com/2006/12/21/font-size-frustration/#comment-115886Font size is an important issue, but it’s not the only one. Here’s the comment I left at Wisdump: “I can’t help but wonder why everyone complains about font sizes, which can be changed in any browser, but not about the even more annoying vogue for pale grey type, which can’t be changed unless one chooses to override all colors settings. The low contrast is virtually unreadable for older eyes like mine.”

Both fixed sizes or low contrast are enough to send me away from a site–permanently. Using a feed reader is fine for current blog posts, but don’t help if following a link to an older post.